Welcome to New Vegas
by Theirop
Summary: 2282, one year after the second battle of the Hoover Dam, the courier has become the de-facto leader of a free New Vegas. However the peace and security of New Vegas is once again threatened when Greg, a mysterious Lone Wanderer, appears bringing with him his own brand east coast of trouble.
1. Prolouge

Please READ and REVIEW it means a lot.

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Kate stepped out of her suite and out on to the balcony of the Lucky 38. Looking down to the building's entrance she pleasantly noted that the builders were almost done re-furbishing the entrance. It was the last thing left to do before the Grand Opening of the New Lucky 38 Hotel and Casino. After the Second Battle of The Hoover Dam, Kate was able to convince the NCR to leave New Vegas and the surrounding area alone. She did it with the help of Yes Man and the other securitrons. With New Vegas free Kate decided it was time to once again open the Lucky 38 to customers. A year and 60,000 caps later the time was finally here.

Walking back inside Kate turned to Yes Man "Alright, what's on the schedule for today?" As she spoke she walked back over to her large wardrobe and started trying what to decide to wear.

"You have a meeting with Miss Farkas to discuss the state of their operation. Then Elder McNamara has agreed to meet with you about your offer of assistance." The smiling securitron said, his odd smile was something Kate was sure she was never going to get used to.

"Very good," she held up two outfits, a pair of jeans and a red blouse the other a suit of leather armor and a leather duster "Which one do you like more."

"Whichever one you like more mistress." He said still smiling

"Typical guy." She muttered as she hung the first outfit up and threw the armor on the bed. "Get in touch with the King will you, I have an idea I wanna run by him." Once changed, she selected the cowboy hat off the rack near her door and walked out into the hall. She made her way over to the elevator and took it to the main level. She walked across the new casino floor. She looked around and was still amazed by the transformation that had taken place. Where cobwebs and dust had once covered every surface, now they all had a polished shine. She waved to the dealers that were still learning their way around. She had to borrow/steal dealers from some of the other casinos in order to train her new hires. Stepping outside she waved at Bill the construction foreman.

She kept her head low and disappeared into the crowd. She successfully made her way to Freeside without being recognized. As she was walking toward the Follower's base in the Old Mormon Fort she saw someone that caught her eye. Walking down the street toward her was a man. Kate had a pretty good knack for labeling people, drunk, adventurer, trader, rich person it didn't matter Kate had seen them all. The thing about this guy though was that Kate was unable to place him. He defiantly looked like a fighter, he had the scars, but he also had that slight judgmental look that Kate new was common to the richer casino patrons. He was wearing an outfit that was reminiscent of the cowboys that Kate saw plastered everywhere in the form of posters. He had a Stetson and a duster on ,same as her, then under it he had a pair of brown jeans, and a blue button up shirt. He had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Under the duster she was that he had on a holster with a revolver in it then on the other side he had what looked like knives.

She stood on the street corner watching him, unable to look away for some reason. Suddenly she was pushed to the side as person ran by her, it was one of the local Freeside lowlifes. He ran up to the new stranger and yanked a bag off his belt. Typical Freeside robbery, eventually you learned to keep your money on the inside of your clothing. The lowlife was only five steps away when the stranger flicked his wrist. Something flew through the air and hit the lowlife in the shoulder, he went down. When the lowlife hit the ground Kate was able to see that there was a knife handle protruding from his shoulder. The stranger casually made his way over to the fallen man and calmly pulled the knife from his back and wiped it on his knee.

"Just so you know, I could've punctured your lung and killed you." He said leaning over and calmly plucking the pouch from his hands. Then he reached into his duffle and pulled out a stimpak "Here," he said dropping the stimpak on to the ground in front of him "clean yourself up, and tell your friends. " He turned around and started walking back toward the main gate. As he walked by Kate he paused and tipped his hat at her before continuing on. Kate stared after him only turning away when he reached the inner gate. She shook her head and pushed open the door to the Old Mormon Fort.


	2. Chapter 1

**Now it's time for me to introduce the star of our show Greg**

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Greg made eventually made his way to the top of the hill, standing on the top he was glad he had. Sprawled out before him was the wasteland settlement of New Vegas, even in at midday it was beautiful. Rising high above the rest of the buildings was the famed Lucky 38, it was all that anyone in Prim, Novac or Goodsprings would talk about. Apparently it was hosting some big event. Greg readjusted his duffle bag and started down the hill.

He picked his way through the destroyed homes that surrounded the city. He eventually made his way over to a gate. Standing around the gate was a group of men in leather jackets and overly gelled hair. They reminded him of someone he knew from home. As he approached the gate on of the men walked over to him. "Hey man, for only 10 caps I can get you through Freeside safe, I'm a King and no one messes with a King."

Greg tipped his hat to the man "No thank you, I think I can handle myself."

"Have it your way man, but if you get robbed it's on you." The King shrugged and made his way back over to his friends. Greg waved to the man in the gate house and walked through the gate once it was open. Once inside he tried to remember the directions that Cliff had given him in Novac. He started walking down the street toward the bus/gate thing on the other end. He had only gone ten or so steps before out of the corner of his eye he saw someone running at him from the side of the street. He immediately tensed up and pulled out one of his knives.

The man bumped into him and Greg watched as the he deftly pulled Greg's purse off of his belt. Greg let the man get to an appropriate distance away before deftly sending his knife after the man's right shoulder. He watched as the would be robber fell to the ground. Greg calmly walked over to the man and pulled his knife out of his back, he wiped it on his pant leg before putting it back in the sheath. He leaned down the man "Just so you know, I could've punctured your lung and killed you." He said calmly taking his purse back. He paused then reached into his duffle and pulled out a stimpak "Here," he tossing the stimpak at him "clean yourself up, and tell your friends." Greg stood up and turned around. It was then that he noticed the woman watching him from across the street. She was fairly attractive, her leather armor accented her figure nicely, and Greg caught a flash of red hair under her hat. When Greg walked by her he made a point to look at her and tip his hat, first impressions are important after all.

Once Greg was on the other side of the inner gate he made his way over to the intersection. He knew he was in the right place. This part of Freeside was much busier. Off to his right were two advertisers. One was yelling about some gun store called the Silver Rush, but the other had just what Greg wanted, the Atomic Wrangler. Greg followed the girls directions and took a right toward the casino.

He pushed open the door to the Atomic Wrangler and stepped inside. Greg smiled, he was going to like it here a hell of a lot more than the capital wasteland. The inside of the Atomic Wrangler was filled with cigarette and cigar smoke, the sound of slot machines and the murmur of people talking. On the left hand wall there was a stage, at that moment the stage was occupied by a pair of guys that looked like they were performing a standup routine. They must've said something funny because a fit of laughter rippled through the crowd. Greg made his way over to the bar. He didn't wait long

"What can I get for you my friend." The bar keep was dressed in a slightly shabby grey pinstriped suit, his dark hair was cut short and combed neatly, and his face was cleanly shaven.

"I'm looking for the owner, James Garret." Greg said sitting down on one of the bar stools. "I need a room."

"Lucky for you, you're looking right at him." James smiled and pointed at himself. "Now if you want a room, the standard rate is ten caps a night, and that only gets you a key." He leaned in closer to Greg "Or, if you got it, five hundred caps, gets you a room, a dinner, and four hundred and fifty chips."

"What the hell," Greg said reaching into his purse, "I could go for a bit of gambling." He handed over the five hundred caps.

"A wise choice," James took the caps and handed Greg a key and a piece of paper. "Your room is the one all the way at the end," He pointed "And just hand this lovely voucher over to the cashier for your chips. Let me know when you want that dinner. Enjoy your stay at the Atomic Wrangler."

Greg walked away from the bar and mad his way over to the stairs. He headed up and went into his room. The room itself was relatively bare. It had a four poster bed against the right wall, a wardrobe and a desk. Greg threw his duffle on the bed and started to unpack. He hung up his other clothes, a dusty suit and a suit of reinforced leather armor, in the wardrobe. Then he put his trusty lever action repeater on the desk and started to clean it. He thought back to what this gun had done, it could punch through almost anything, supermutant, power armor, you name it. He's nicknamed it Lincoln's Repeater because of where he'd found it. It had saved his ass more than once on the trip to New Vegas.

Once he was unpacked he exited his room and went down to the casino room in the back. There was a protectron walking around and it sounded like it was saying something about pleasing. He walked up to the man behind the partition and turned over his voucher for the chips. He decided he'd try his hand at blackjack, Sunny in Goodsprings had explained the rules and even played a few hands, but she said that was nothing like it was in Vegas. He walked over to the table and sat down. He decided to start easy and only bet five chips. He was dealt a six and a five, and the dealer was showing a nine. He had to take another card, Sunny had explained that you should always assume the dealer has a face card. His luck paid off, he got a queen, giving him the desired twenty one. He kept playing, winning and losing money alike.

It appeared his luck was holding out because he eventually reached seven hundred chips, he had always seemed to have better luck than everyone else. He looked at his pip-boy and realized that he had been gambling for the past two and a half hours, it was night time. He excused himself from the table and decided it was time to have that dinner. He walked over to the bar and told James. About ten minutes later he had a plate of Bighorner steak with sliced barrel cactus fruit and a lukewarm beer. After he was finished he decided it was time to venture onto the famous strip.

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**Please leave reviews, it will help me know if I'm on the right track.**

**There will be more action I promise.**


	3. Chapter 2

**AN:**

Hey guys so I'm going to try to update about every week or so just so you know.

Your comments have been really helpful please keep them up. Now to get on with the show. Enjoy.

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New Vegas was breathtaking, the entire skyline was a glow with the light from the strip. Greg walked down the street away from the Wrangler. Freeside barely needed any of its own light, it was lit up very well just by the spill over light from the strip. Greg could feel his smile growing larger the closer he got to the gate. Looking around he saw there was a group of people hanging out near the gate, they seemed to be shouting at one of the large security robots, they looked a bit like someone put a TV on a unicycle, but somehow they still managed to look menacing. When he was close enough one of the robots rolled up to him in their slightly weaving fashion. "Please present passport or submit to credit check of two thousand caps." The robotic voice said. Greg pulled his purse out and showed it to the guard. A beam of red light shout out of one of the robot's hands and passed over the collection of caps. "Credit check complete, please enjoy your time in New Vegas." The robot promptly turned around a rolled away to talk to another hopeful.

Greg walked up to the gate and waited for it to be opened. Two other people joined him, a man and a woman, but they seemed to be too much into each other to notice him. He was only two steps past the gate when he had to stop and stare. If New Vegas was impressive from Freeside then it was astonishing up close. The neon lights flickered all over the strip, vying for his attention. It was bright enough that he was briefly tempted to put on his sunglasses. There were people everywhere, going in and out of the casinos, street peddlers, but by far the largest group of people was gathered around the Lucky 38 on his left. There was someone standing in front of the main doors giving a speech of some sort, it took Greg a second but he recognized her as the woman from the street earlier. "And now after over two hundred years closed off from the public eye, I present to you the Lucky 38 Hotel and Casino." With that the doors behind her slid open to reveal the long awaited inside of the famous casino. The woman stepped to the side of the door and waited for the rush of the crowd to die down before entering again.

Greg followed her in wanting to talk to her but her lost her in the confusion inside the casino. Greg decided that he'd had enough gambling for the time being, he needed to save his caps. He needed to find some sort of work soon, as it had taken a small fortune to get here, especially when he hadn't planned on coming to New Vegas when he left. He'd made some money along the way by doing odd jobs around cities or taking contracts and doing what he was good at, killing.

He checked Sarah, his revolver, at the desk and made his way over to the bar area of the casino floor. Apparently he wasn't the only one who had the same idea. There were about five other patrons. Greg ordered a whiskey and turned to look around the casino floor. The floor was packed, it looked like every available seat was taken, either at slots, or blackjack, or roulette. It even looked like a few travelers were playing caravan in a far corner. He downed his whiskey in one shot and signaled for another. When the bartender brought the second one over Greg asked him a few questions. "Hey, I got a question." The bartender nodded "Where could an honest killer find some work around here? Are there any merc outfits?"

"I don't really know, if you want more information you should go talk to Boone over at camp McCarran, he's the guy people go to if they're looking for work like that."

"Thanks, and where is this Camp McCarran?"

"It's just to the south, but if you don't feel like hoofing it, you could always take the monorail from here on the strip to it."

"Thanks man, one more question. Who was that girl who opened up the casino?"

"Her?" The bartender chuckled, "She is Kate Dunlap, also known as the courier, or courier number six, or the hero of New Vegas. She is also the Owner of this fine casino and the leader of New Vegas."

"Wow, and here I just thought she was another pretty face." Greg stood up paid his tab and left the bartender a little tip for his troubles. He made his way over to the desk and picked up his pistol before leaving the casino. He walked out of the Lucky 38, adjusted his hat and started making his way toward the monorail station. He paid the five cap fee and boarded the next train.

The ride to Camp McCarran only took about three minutes, the bartender had been right it sure beat hoofing it. He stepped out of the train and into the terminal. Compared to the strip this place was a ghost town, there were a few people boarding the train back to the strip, and some drunk was passed out on a bench. Greg could see that the walls had once been covered in posters of some kind. He walked over to the stairs and descended to the main level of the terminal. There were more people down here than upstairs but not by much. There was a pair of guys playing caravan at a table off to his left. Then there was the guy leaning against the wall, with the Mohawk and decked out in a suit of metal armor with some nasty looking spikes. Greg walked past him and toward the doors to the outside.

The open air part of Camp McCarran looked like it couldn't make up its mind. One part was occupied by sleeping tents, there was a bar of some kind in another part. There was even a firing range tucked away in the back corner. Greg made his way over to the bar. He asked the bartender where he could find this Boone character. He was pointed in the direction of a large square tent. The door to the tent was open. Inside was a taller man with a hard face, he had on a red beret and sitting on the table in front of him was a beautiful scoped bolt action rifle. "Can I help you?" he said without looking up from his papers.

"I'm looking for Boone."

"That's me now what do you want?"

"I'm looking for mercenary work. Are there any outfits I could join up with?"

"I can give you some bounties if that's what you're looking for, God knows we need it. But we don't have much in the way of groups if that's what you want." Boone finally looked up at him.

"Well what bounties do you have?" Greg was shocked, where he came from there were three different outfits that he could've joined, this gave Greg an idea. He could form his own outfit. It would mean settling down in New Vegas but he thought he could handle that.

"There's a group of raiders led by a man who calls himself Black Jack. They're operating out of an old ranger station to the south. The Crimson Caravan Company has put out a twenty five hundred cap bounty on them" He handed Greg a map with the location circled, Greg parked it on his pip-boy. "Eliminate the raiders and bring back Black Jack's head and I'll give you the caps."

"Any other information you have on this Black Jack?" Greg asked

"Accounts show that his group is fairly small, less than ten, but heavily armed and highly organized."

"One last thing, any idea where I could find people who'd be willing to join me?"

"Try asking the King in Freeside, he should be able to point you in the right direction." Greg nodded and walked back out of the tent. Greg started walking back toward the terminal when he realized that someone was running at him. He kept walking but also drew one of his knives. He then turned a corner and when his pursuer rounder the corner he grabbed them, tossed them onto the ground and pinning them to the ground with his knee he pushed the knife against their throat.

"Why are you following me?" He half yelled. He looked at the person pinned under him and realized that it was actually a ghoul.

"Get off me smoothskin, I wasn't planning on killing you if that's what you're wondering." He had the raspy voice that most ghouls have. Greg put the knife away and relieved some of the pressure. "I heard you asking Boone about finding help, and I wanted to talk." Greg stood up and offered the ghoul a hand.

"Ok, let's talk," Greg pulled the ghoul to his feet. "I'm Greg by the way."

"Carl," the ghoul dusted himself off "Now then, as I was planning on saying before you nearly killed me. I heard you talking to Boone about finding partners and I would like to offer my services."

"Alright, what can you do?" Greg asked

"Well I'm pretty good in hand to hand, and before you point out that you took me down I decided to not fight back. I'm also crack shot with a pistol."

"Prove it." Greg handed Carl his pistol and pointed at a weather vane on top of the gate. Carl took the pistol, hefted it in his hands a few times before spinning it around his finger once and firing it. Greg heard the distinctive ping of the bullet hitting the weather vane and saw it tilt to the side. Greg nodded approvingly.

"Hey save that for the firing range." Someone yelled from inside their tent.

"Ok, I'm sold." Greg took his pistol back, "Welcome aboard." Greg extended his arm and shook Carl's hand. Carl agreed to meet Greg the next morning in front of the Atomic Wrangler.

Greg woke up next morning feeling relatively refreshed. Instead of putting on his outfit from the day before, he put on his leather armor. He still put on the duster and cowboy hat though. Grabbing his rifle on his way out he immediately noticed Carl sitting at the bar talking to some female ghoul in a cowboy hat. Greg walked down the stairs and sat down on the stool next to Carl. "Morning partner." He said.

"Looks like your friend has arrived come back and see me when you're done with your big adventure." The female ghoul said sauntering away.

Carl turned to face Greg, "Morning smothskin, you ready to go?"

Greg stood up, "Ready if you are." Greg slid his rifle into the holster sewn onto the duster and led the way outside. When they appeared in the bright Mojave sunlight Greg pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket and placed them on his face. He led the pair of them down the street. As they were walking Greg turned to Carl, "I was thinking last night, do you think it would hurt to see if we could find some more people, I mean people do get a twenty five hundred cap bounty on themselves for sacking a few caravans."

"I guess it couldn't hurt but where would you even start looking?"

"That Boone guy suggested I go talk to the King, and since we're already here I figured it couldn't hurt."

"You're the boss." Carl shrugged. Greg led them across the intersection and into the Kings School of Impersonation. When they entered everyone inside looked up at them. Greg nervously cleared his throat.

"We're looking for the King." He said standing a bit taller.

"The King is not to be disturbed right now." One of the men said standing up "So I suggest you leave."

"That's ok Cameron," A second man appeared out of the shadows of the back corner. He pointed at Greg "This is the guy I was telling you about yesterday with the throwing knife." Cameron sat down and the second man turned to face Greg and Carl. "I told the King about that stunt you pulled yesterday with that robber and he said he'd like to meet you." He pushed open a side door, "If you follow me I'll take you to him." They followed the mad down a side hallway.

"What stunt did you pull yesterday?" Carl asked "It must've been big to catch the Kings ear."

"Some would-be robber tried to take my money so I threw a knife into his shoulder. I think the big thing is that I didn't kill the man. In fact I actually gave him a stimpak to help heal. I didn't see the point in killing the man. I just don't want to be bothered."

"Yeah, I'd say that qualifies as big enough. In Freeside not killing someone for robbing you is as big as killing someone in other towns."

"Yeah I guess." Greg said. The man led them up a flight of stairs to the second level of the building. They followed him down the hallway until they reached a door.

"Wait here, I'll let him know you're here." The man knocked on the door. "Hey boss, that guy I was telling you about yesterday is here and he wants to talk to you." There was a muffled response before the man pushed to door open and waved for them to enter. The wall opposite the door had a counter and a mirror. In the center of the room was a man sitting in a chair. Behind him was a second man who was in the process of cutting the man in the chair's hair. The man in the chair looked up.

"So you're the one Kate, and Max here" He motioned to the man who they'd been following. "Have been talking about. No doubt you know who I am, I'm the King." Greg had a feeling he would've bowed but he was confined to the chair. "I want to thank you for not killing Conner yesterday, he's very important to us. You'll be happy to know that I've put the word out that you are not to be bothered." Greg nodded his thanks. "So tell me, what can the leader of Freeside do for you?"

"We are looking for people who would be willing to join us on our contract, to kill Black Jack. We were told to come talk to you to see if you could point us in the right direction." Greg said.

"Ah, so you're looking for fellow mercenaries." The King said.

"Yea, I guess so."

"Well, I guess it's your lucky day. Word has it that some girl showed up a few days ago and been asking around town for work. I think someone said she was over doing odd jobs at the Silver Rush." The King said. "If you want my advice go talk to her. Now if you will excuse me I must return to my haircut. Come back and see me when you've finished your current contract. I may have a job for you."

"Thank you King, we'll leave you now." They walked back out of the room and went back the way they came. The King hand Max stay behind to talk to him, so they went alone. They walked back to the main bar room and then outside. Greg turned to Carl, "So what is the Silver Rush, another Casino?"

"Nah, well I mean it was before the war, but the Van Graffs turned it into a gun store, it specializes in energy weapons." Carl said. Greg nodded and led the way back down the side street toward the Silver Rush. Before they were able to enter the store the guard outside made them turn over their weapons before entering the store. Greg managed to palm his blades and take them inside. The inside of the store was impressive, there was a wire mesh screen going all around the shop floor. The screen had two breaks in it, one next to the entrance and the other opposite that.

They seemed to have entered at a bad time. There was some sort of argument going on. There was a blonde girl in a suit of combat armor who was getting yelled at by another woman with a shaven head. "That's Gloria," Carl said pointing at the yelling woman "She runs the store, I suggest we don't piss her off." Greg stood near the entrance and watched the goings on.

"Ok Margo, I'm gonna tell you this one more time." Gloria yelled "Find Cassidy, and bring her back her or don't come back at all." The blonde girl, Margo, looked like she was about to say something back but decided against it at the last minute. She instead grabbed a laser rifle off the table and stormed out. She blew past Greg and Carl as if they weren't even there.

"I think that's our girl, let's go." Greg said turning to walk back out the entrance. The ghoul nodded and followed Greg outside. They picked up their weapons from the guard at the entrance before hurrying to catch up with Margo. "Hey," Greg yelled as he ran after Margo "Hey hold up, I wanna ask you a question." Margo slowed down and allowed them to catch up.

"Can I help you?" she asked

"Hi, I'm Greg and this is Carl,"

"Margo."

"It seems like you don't really like your job." Greg said.

"Yeah well, it's the only one I can get," She said "What of it."

"Well I'd like to offer you a new job opportunity." Greg said.

"Yeah, you do, do you? Well fuck you, I have enough self-respect to become a prostitute. I'd much rather keep my awful job than degrade myself." She practically spat at Greg.

"What, no. Not that." Greg said "I'm talking about mercenary work, you seem like you could handle yourself in a fight."

"Mercenary work?" Margo said questioningly.

"Yeah, Carl and I are putting together a team to go collect the bounty on Black Jack."

"Yeah well what's in it for me?"

"If we get the bounty then over 800 caps, and the satisfaction of killing the fucker." Greg said "Also it can give you a certain level of respect."

"You know what, fuck it. Why not." Margo said smiling "It's not like I'm going to be going back to the Van Graffs. They want me to bring one of the Courier's best friends to her death."

"Well alright then," Greg stuck his hand out and shook Margo's, "Glad to have you with us. If you don't mind I'd like to at least travel part of the way today."

"Lead on," Greg led the two others out of Freeside and they started heading toward Black Jack's camp.

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**AN:**

So what did you guys think?

See you again next week.


	4. Chapter 3

AN:

Hey guys I just wanted to say thanks for all the support this story has received.

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Greg, Carl and Margo walked for about four hours until they came within sight of the ranger station. Along the way Greg and Carl discovered that Margo had an uncanny skill with technology and machinery, and she was also pretty handy with energy weapons. She carried he own customized laser rifle, that allowed her to either focus the beam for long range or split it to act like a shotgun for short range. Carl was the first to point out the ranger station.

The station itself was constructed with pre-war campers and sheets of corrugated metal. They were set up on the top of a hill about a hundred meters from the station. Looking through his binoculars Greg counted two sentries on top of the wall. There seemed to be a fire burning as he was able to see smoke rising from the center of the station. Greg passed the binoculars around and pointed out what he saw. "So how do you plan on us doing this?" Margo asked handing the binoculars back to Greg who put them away.

"I would say storm the castle, but those sentries looked pretty well armed." It looked like they had combat armor on and both had sniper rifles. "If we can take them out we'll stand a better chance."

"We still have no idea how many there are inside though." Carl added.

"True, but we have to risk something." Greg added "Margo, do you think you could take out one of those guards from here?"

"Yeah probably. Why?"

"If we eliminate the sentries then they won't know that we're approaching." Greg reached into his pocket and pulled out a silencer. "It keeps the element of surprise."

"Worth a shot, let's do it." Margo and Greg both set up their rifles on the rocks and took aim. Greg lined up his sights on the sentry on the right and Margo took the one on the left. They both fired within a split second of each other, and both guards went down. Greg pumped the lever and put another round in the chamber and waited for some sort of reaction from the camp. When there wasn't after a full minute Greg signaled for them to move.

They moved down hill and slowly walked toward the station. They skirted the wall in single file, Greg in the front. They reached the entrance and Greg could hear music coming from somewhere inside the camp. Greg signaled for the others to stop. He leaned around the corner to get a better look. He turned back to the other "Ok there's a campfire in the center of the camp, there are four people sitting around it." Greg pulled a grenade out of his pocket. "There's a building on the right, I think there's some people inside there too. This should give us a pretty good distraction." He got ready to throw "Carl, cover the door. Don't want anyone shooting us in the back." Carl nodded and flexed his hand inside his power fist.

Greg pulled the pin on the grenade and lobbed it through the air toward the campfire. It hit the ground and bounced a few times before landing in the fire itself. The raiders looked at the fire trying to figure out what happened when Greg and Margo opened fire. One of the raiders was down before the others knew what was happening. After the first raider hit the ground the grenade in the fire went off flinging burning hot shrapnel and flaming pieces of wood outward. Another one of the raiders went down from the grenade. The two remaining raiders returned fire before being forced to find cover. Suddenly Margo, on his left, screamed out and fell down behind the low concrete barrier they were hiding behind. Greg knelt down next to her, she was holding her right thigh and her hand was coverd in blood. Moving her hand Greg was able to see that a bullet had managed to hit her leg just above the armored plating. He reached into his duster pocked at produced a stimpak and a role of cloth. He injected the stimpak into the hurt leg before wrapping the cloth around the injury.

He looked up at Margo, "Can you still shoot?" she gritted her teeth and nodded, "Good, cover me. Keep them pinned down." She nodded again. Greg slid his rifle into the holster on his back and drew his pistol. He waited for the right moment then sprinted toward the raider's cover. They were holed up in one of the old campers, taking cover on either side of the door way. When he was just in front of the doorway, Greg launched himself into a headfirst dive through the door. He lined up his revolver on the head of the raider on the right and pulled the trigger at the same time that he threw a knife into the neck of the other raider. Greg hit the floor of the camper in a roll and quickly came to his feet. Both raiders were dead. He pulled the knife from the neck of the second raider before exiting the camper.

It was at that moment that the door to the building flew open, surprising Carl. Out stormed a man in full combat armor armed with a mini-gun. "Who the fuck do you think you are, no one messes with Black Jack and gets away with it." Greg heard the whine of the mini-gun's barrels starting to spin. He whipped out his rifle and took aim. Then right before the mini-gun reached the firing speed it stopped and a hole appeared where one of Black Jack's eyes had been. He toppled forward dead, and behind him stood Carl holding his pistol in line with where Black Jack's head had been. "Oh shut up, asshole." He looked over at Greg. "I think he was the last of them."

"Good work Carl," Greg looked around "Margo you ok?" She gave a thumbs up from where she was emerging from cover. Greg walked over to Black Jack and started searching through his pockets. He found about sixty caps, a few stimpaks and some spare .357 rounds. The dead raider was about the same size as Greg, so he stripped the combat armor off him. Somewhere along the line Greg had gotten over the fear and disgust of wearing a dead man's armor. In the wasteland everything was reusable.

Greg changed into the combat armor, it would definitely need a scrubbing, Black Jack had lived a disgusting life. He was pleasantly surprised, however that with some adjusting his leather duster still fit relatively well over the combat armor. He decided to leave the hat on, it blocked out more of the sun. Once he was changed and the others had scavenged what they could, Greg got to the dirty work. He drew his handy combat knife, it was about a foot long and had a saw carved into the back. He used the saw part of the knife and cut Black Jack's head off. Greg held him by the hair and let most of the blood drain out. When it was just coming out in slow drops Greg wrapped it up in a spare piece of cloth from one of the other dead raiders.

A few hours later Greg, Margo and Carl found themselves arriving at the town of Novac. As they began walking in the direction of Dinky the Dinosaur, Greg turned to the others "I think we should stay here for the night." The others agreed. They pushed open the chain link fence and walked over to the base of Dinky. They ascended the stairs and opened the door to the dinosaurs stomach. The inside was not very big. Directly in front of them was an L-shaped counter, and to their left was a set of stairs that led up to Dinky's mouth.

Behind the counter was a bald black man, he looked up from his chair when they walked in. HE stood up as Greg approached the counter "Hey Greg, what can I do for you?"

"Hey Cliff, we need a few rooms for the night, not a big fan of traveling at night." Greg said smiling.

"I hear ya, it's not safe these days, especially with that Black Jack character roaming these parts." He pulled out a dirty old book and wrote some things down. Then he put the book back under the counter and produced three keys, "Here you go, three rooms on the left side of the top floor." He handed Greg the keys. "Anything else you needed?"

"Actually yeah, we picked up some scavenge while we were out, wanna take a look?"

"Sure," Cliff said walked around to their side of the counter. Greg, Carl, and Margo pulled out the various items that they had picked up at Black Jack's camp. They pulled out the three service rifles, the two sniper rifles and the grenade launcher that the raiders had been carrying. They also showed Cliff the two suits of metal armor and four suits of reinforced leather armor they had found. All of the equipment was in relatively good condition. Looking over the items Cliff elected to buy the grenade rifle, the two sniper rifles, and the suits of metal armor from them. "I'll give you four thousand caps for them."

Greg thought it over "Throw in three bottles of pure water and whatever .44 rounds you have, and you've got a deal."

Cliff scratched his head then nodded, "Done." They shook hands and Cliff counted out the caps. Greg and the others exited the Dino Bite Gift Shop and started walking toward the hotel building. "Here are your keys," he said tossing them to the other two, "Meet back here in five minutes, and we'll go get something to eat." They nodded and each went into their own room. Greg tossed his pack onto the couch and placed his rifle on the bed. Next he carefully placed Black Jack's severed head in one of the two sinks in the room. He turned on the tap in the other sink and washed his face. That done he walked back outside to wait for the others. He wasn't surprised to see Carl already there.

They didn't have to wait long, Margo came out of her room and joined them out in the court yard area. She had changed out of her combat armor and was now wearing a pair of jeans and a green flannel shirt. Greg cocked an eyebrow. "What? That combat armor gets heavy." She said. Greg shrugged. "So what are we doing about dinner?" she asked.

"Well there's a bar in town but you have to make your own food." Greg said.

"There's also that trading post up the road, and you don't have to cook your own food." Carl said.

"The 188?" Greg asked. "I ate there on my way to New Vegas, its good food but it's at least an hour away." Greg said. "We can go if you guys don't mind walking." There was still some sunlight left, and Margo insisted her leg was fine, so they set off for the trading post.

An hour later they arrived at the trading post. They took a seat at one of the picnic tables at the direction of the owner of the dinner, a guy named Samuel. They looked at the menu that was painted onto the table. "Here is your guys share from the scavenging," Greg said handing each of them a pouch of caps, "Fifteen hundred a piece, don't spend it all in one place."

"So Greg you're not from around here are you?" Margo asked pocketing the caps.

"No, no I'm not. What gave it away?" he said with a laugh.

"Most people in New Vegas don't give their partners more caps than they do themselves. It's kinda common practice to take a little bit on the side." Carl said.

"Well, I'm of the opinion that all that'll get you is a bullet in the back of the head one night."

"That's defiantly a different opinion." Margo said, "So where are you from anyway?"

"I'm from back east." Greg said.

"Back east is a big place." Margo said focusing her gaze on him.

"Ruins of Washington D.C.," Greg said.

"That's a long way away smoothskin," Carl said "What brings you all the way out here?"

"Not really sure, just left D.C. about two years ago and wound up here."

"Why'd you leave?" Margo asked.

"I was married for a year and a half, and then my wife caught the wasteland flu and died." Greg turned his head and looked off into the distance "The Capital Wasteland had changed by then, it was too safe, too civilized almost. There was no place for someone like me. So one day I packed up what I needed, sold the rest, said my good-byes and started walking. Whenever I start running low on caps I stop where ever I am and do some work before moving on."

"So why are you here?" Margo asked "Just another pit-stop or what?" Margo asked,

"I don't really know, I've been in a lot of cities and towns over the past two years, dealt with a lot of governments," Greg said looking at her, "But New Vegas feels different. It's still wild; it's not under the control of some 'government'. I think that maybe this could be a place for me." He smiled slightly.

"I'll tell you what, it totally beats the NCR controlled territory, too much politics up there if you ask me." Carl said. It was then that Samuel approached their table.

"Alright, it seems like you guys have decided on what you want to eat." They told Samuel what they wanted and he walked off. George turned back to the others.

"So, I got a question. Almost everywhere I've been there has always been the local mercenary group, and I was a little surprised to find that there's not one here." He leaned in closer to them. "If neither of you had any long term plans once we collected the bounty. I was wondering if you would be interested in forming an official group with me."

"Sure as hell beats going solo," Carl said, "So I'm in, smoothskin." They looked over at Margo.

"Anything's better than what the Van Graffs wanted," Margo said, "I'm in, too."

Later that evening, after they had returned to Novac, Greg was in sitting at the desk diligently cleaning his rifle and pistol. He was wearing a set of pajamas that he had found in the dresser. He had taken off the combat armor and treated it to a heavy scrubbing of both detergent and Abraxo. He had just taken apart the rifle when there was a knock at the door. Opening it he was a bit surprised to see Margo standing there. He opened the door a bit more. "Hey Margo, what's up?"

"Hey Greg can I come in?" she said looking at him.

"Sure, come on in." He closed the door after her, "How's your leg?" He motioned for her to sit on the couch before sitting on the edge of the couch in front of her.

"It's a lot better, thanks." She said sitting down, "That's part of the reason I'm here, I never got the chance to really thank you for saving me."

"I didn't save you, you didn't really need me, I just happened to be there with the proper stuff." Greg said.

"Yes you did save me," Margo said looking him in the eyes, "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't been there. That was my first time getting shot." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I always tried to present myself as this tough-ass warrior of the wastes type person, and I guess that I just did it so much that I forgot who I really am." Greg could see she was starting to tear up. "I'm not someone you want in your group, I'm inexperienced, I'm not brave, and I'm not even that good of a fighter. I mean out of the three of us I'm the only one who managed to get hurt."

Greg moved from the bed to the couch, "Hey, hey, what are you talking about. You were plenty brave today, and that bullet could've very well have hit me instead." Greg put an arm around her. "If I didn't think that I could depend on you then I wouldn't have asked you to join Carl and me."

"I don't know." She said taking a deep breath, "I just don't want to let you down one day."

"You won't," Greg put both of his hand on her shoulders and looked her dead in the face, "I know you won't."

"Now all I need is for me to believe that." She said smiling slightly at him. She stood up to walk over to the door, Greg followed her. "Hey, thanks again for saving me today." she said turning to face him.

"I told you I didn't save-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence because he discovered it is really hard to talk once a girl has locked her lips against yours. Once the initial shock wore off he found himself kissing back.

"I wasn't talking about the gunfight." She said before kissing him again briefly. She opened the door and flashing him another smile she was gone.

* * *

AN

first off I want to say to all you LW/Courier fans don't worry don't worry.

It will probably be later in the week next week that I post the next chapter. It's finals week :(

Please leave your reviews with questions or comments I really appreciate them.


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